Japanese Red Army Attacks Lod Airport: 26 Dead
Three members of the Japanese Red Army (JRA), recruited by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, arrived at Israel's Lod Airport (now Ben Gurion) on Air France Flight 132 on May 30, 1972. They retrieved automatic rifles and grenades from their checked luggage and opened fire in the arrivals hall, killing 26 people and wounding 80. Most of the dead were Puerto Rican Christian pilgrims. Two attackers were killed; the third, Kozo Okamoto, was captured. The attack was unprecedented in using Japanese nationals as proxies for a Palestinian cause, demonstrating that international terrorism could recruit across ideological and national boundaries. The massacre accelerated the global adoption of passenger and baggage screening at airports, practices that are now universal.
May 30, 1972
54 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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